Improved mode of treating oil-wells to remove paraffine, tar



PATENT OFFIC FRASER-,OF BUFFALO, NEW roan.

Turnovtnmonr OF TREATING ou-wrus TdREMOVE PARhFFINE, TAR, 8m.

Specification forming part of Lotti-rs Patent No. 47,4 dated April 95, 130'.

To all whom it may concern/@- Be it known that l, J. FRASER, of the city of Bufi'alo, in the county of Erie and State of N ow York, have invented a new and Improved hlethod of Treating Oil-\Ve-lls for Removing Obstructions of Parafline; and I do hereby description thereof.

'lheduration of the period of production in oil-wells is comparativelyshort, rarely exceed- 1 ing one and a half or two years, and the quantity yielded gradually diminishes from the commencement. The parafline,which is one of the largest constituents of petroleum, isheld in solution by the naphtha and, other light hydrocarbons at ordinary temperatures, but crystallizes and deposits rapidly from the intense cold produced in the oil-strata by the expansion of gas when the reservoirs are opened by the drill, and adheres tothe oil-tube, the sides of the elare that the following is a full and exact dewells and the fissures of the rock, forming in tune a solid accumulation,which closes by degrees the veins or crevices through which the well is supplied, and the production is consequently. stopped, not because the oil is exhausted, but because it cannot pass the obstruction thus produced.

My method of treati ng oil-wells has for its obj cct the removal of this deposit inold wells and preventing its further formation by producing a condition in the wells favorable to softening and dissolving the solid parafiine, and thereby opening and keeping open the veins of supply; and it consists in introducing water at a high temperature into the wells, when oil is present, to raise the heat of the naphtha to that point at which the paraffine will be dissolved by it and combine with the oil, and,where oil is not present in the wells, 'in introducing naphtha, crude oil,'benzole, or other hydrocarbon -fluid which possesses the property of dissolving parafiine when heat is present.

My method may be applied to unproductive wells in the following manner: The well should first be drained of water by the pump or any other means; and if, as is frequently the case,

, oil is present inthe bottom of the well inasmall quantity, it is only necessary to raise its temperature to that point at which ithas the power of holding parafiine in solution (which is any degree of temperature above55 Fahrenheit) to cause it to act upon and gradually dissolve the deposits of this substance. To effect this the oil-tube, passing through the seed-bag and reaching into the oil at the bottom, and con- .nect at the top, preferably with'a steam-boiler, (though any other means of heating may beemthe pipe, which is driven into the well by the pressure of the steam in the boiler." This water, entering the oil at a temperature of 212 Fahrenheit, less the amount abstracted byits passage through the pipe, mingles with the oil and heats it readily to that point at which it rapidly dissolves the parafliue, andas the latter substance becomes fluid by heat at 112,

are melted, and thus immediately combine with the naphtha or oil, and remain fluid until again subjected to so low a temperatureas to crystallize it; but it is a part of my process to prevent this condition by continuing the induction of hot liquid into the well, and at the same time removing it, with the oil and liquid paraffine, by the pump before it has'parted with all of its calorie, and by continuing thisprocess remove occurred, and repeating the operation afterward as often as occasion may require to prevent the same from again occurring.

lVhere wells have long been idle no oil may be present, in which caseIintroducehot naphtha, crude oil, benzine, or other hydrocarbon, these having such an affinity for paraifine as to constitute its natural solvents at temperatures which admit of their entering into combination, and to maintain therequisite temvessels, which prevent evaporation by pumping them through such heater and thence into the well. These by coming directly in contact with the solid paraifine rapidly dissolve it and penetrate far into the fissures of the porous rock, unsealing themfor the passage of process is more expensive than when hot wa ter is employed, but the well is more speedily restored to production." It is essential to use either in connection with a pump for removter, before they become cold enough to cause the parafline to crystallize; but where petroleum is abundant the heat will generate gas sufficient to cause pressure enough within the I introduce a pipe into the well by the side of ployed,) making the, connection at the under' side thereof, so as to conduct hot water down those parts which are reached by the hot water by degrees the deposits that have previously perature I heat the same in retorts or closed the oil from the sources of its supply. This ing the liquids, whether hydrocarbons or wa- K bulk and non-elastic aswell as ponderable nature, is capable of being conveyed through a tube into deep wells so rapidly as to loose little of its heat on the passage. In this respect it is greatly superior to steam, air, or other gaseous bodies,which are more orless condensable, for conveying heat into Artesian wells.

I do not claim the employment of steam, air, or other aeriformfluids for conveyinghcat into oil-wells; but

What I claim as my invention, and dosireto secure by Letters Patent, is-- The method of treating petroleum-wells with hot liquids for theremoval of obstructions composed essentially of parafiine, substantially as set forth.

- In witnes's'whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing Witnesses. r

4 JEFFERSON FRASER.

\Vitnesscs:

L. P. PERKINS, JAY HYA rr. 

